A blog on which we will blog about reading and you will read about it.

Friday, September 26, 2008

U.N. Must Relax

"To the judicial observer such turmoil as was manifested in some of the amazing acts of the new governments had an almost pathological odor, suggesting that nations, like individuals, may at times need the soothing hand of the psychiatrist. Indeed, it is an open question whether, if some method might be discovered magically to quiet the emotions of diplomats at certain critical moments, international complications might not frequently be lessened.

...

Without doubt, in countries now conquered, the peoples, deprived of liberties and of material possessions, are in a pitiable nervous condition. Many have lost all that they held dear - wives, children, relatives and friends. The aims of postwar reconstruction for these unfortunates, assuming victory for the United Nations, should be more than material and political. Organized medicine should aim to help their nervous disorders. ... It is to be hoped that physicians in each nation can be trained in time for medical reconstruction, for not only the conquered but also the conquering will need this treatment." (Edmund Jacobson M.D., You Must Relax, 1946 revised edition, pg. 160-161)

More on this once I've had a chance to get back to some Fanon that I've been meaning to re-read.